vSphere ESXi 7.0 U3 VPXA configuration properties

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

In previous releases (before ESXi 7.0U3) other KB article(s) may suggest changing some settings of ESXi service vpxa by directly editing its configuration file (/etc/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg) manually and restarting the vpxa service.

Since 7.0 U3 the service configuration settings are not stored in this file (/etc/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg), but in a special configuration store database.

The settings in the database are accessible using the tool /bin/configstorecli

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.3

Resolution

To make any changes on the vpxa configuration, this can be performed on four steps:

Export the current vpxa configuration as a json file.
Make the changes needed on the json file.
Import the changed from the json file back into the config store
Restart the vpxa service.

Note: The host_ip and server_ip which contain the current ESXi management IP address and the vCenter Server IP address, are not part of the vpxa service configuration in the config store but are instead stored in the vpxa solution user configuration.

Steps to configure the settings for the vpxa service:

Note: To run the below commands, please login to the ESXi Host (CLI) through SSH using the root account. For more information, see Using ESXi Shell in ESXi 5.x, 6.x and 7.x (311213)

To display the current vpxa service configuration settings that are stored in the config store:
```
# /bin/configstorecli config current get -c esx -g services -k vpxa
```
To export the current settings as a json file (the file will be exported to the same directory where the command is run from):
```
# /bin/configstorecli config current get -c esx -g services -k vpxa -outfile tmp.json
```
Backup the current configuration:
```
# cp tmp.json tmp.json.bak
```
Using text editor, apply the needed changes on the tmp.json file, save the changes and exit. For more information, see Editing files on an ESXi host using vi (345284):
```
# vi /tmp.json
```

Run the command to apply the file to the database:

# /bin/configstorecli config current set -c esx -g services -k vpxa -infile tmp.json

The output should look like the below:

Set: completed successfully

Restart vpxa service:
```
# /etc/init.d/vpxa restart
```

Notes:

To see all possible vpxa configuration properties, run the command:
```
# /bin/configstorecli schema get -c esx -g services -k vpxa
```
An update can be applied on the vpxa database if a single property needs to be changed:
```
# /bin/configstorecli config current update -c esx -g services -k vpxa -infile tmp.json
```
For example, tmp.json file can contain only the property needs to be modified on the vpxa configuration database. Example for a tmp.json file of single property:
```
 # cat tmp.json
 {
    "some_sub_object": {
       "some_property": "some_value"
    }
 }
```

Steps to restore the default settings for the vpxa service:

The vpxa configuration database stores the default vpxa settings (on the ESXi Installation). These settings can be restored using the following steps.

To display the default settings (vpxa state on ESXi installation) in the config store:
```
# /bin/configstorecli config default get -c esx -g services -k vpxa
```
To export the default settings as a json file (the file will be exported to the same directory where the command is run from):
```
# /bin/configstorecli config default get -c esx -g services -k vpxa -outfile tmp.json
```
Using text editor, apply the needed changes on the tmp.json file, save the changes and exit. For more information, see Editing files on an ESXi host using vi (345284)

Run the command below to apply the file configuration (default) in the config store:

# /bin/configstorecli config current set -c esx -g services -k vpxa -infile tmp.json

Restart vpxa service:
```
# /etc/init.d/vpxa restart
```

Steps to configure the settings for the vpxa solution user:

export the current settings from the ESXi config store:

# /bin/configstorecli config current get -c esx -g services -k vpxa_solution_user_config -outfile vpxa_user.json

create a backup copy of the exported file:
```
# cp tmp.json tmp.json.bak
```

edit the exported file:

# configstorecli config current update -c esx -g services -k vpxa_solution_user_config -infile vpxa_user.json

re-import the changed configuration:

# configstorecli config current update -c esx -g services -k vpxa_solution_user_config -infile vpxa_user.json

verify that the IP change was correctly applied:

# configstorecli config current get -c esx -g services -k vpxa_solution_user_config

restart vpxa:
```
# /etc/init.d/vpxa restart
```

Additional Information

How to change configuration settings for Hostd service in vSphere ESXi 7.0 Update 2 (319967)